The present invention relates to media abrasivity testing, and more particularly, this invention relates to an improvement in the testing of media abrasivity and/or coating wear.
In magnetic storage systems, data is read from and written onto magnetic recording media utilizing magnetic transducers commonly. Data is written on the magnetic recording media by moving a magnetic recording transducer to a position over the media where the data is to be stored. The magnetic recording transducer then generates a magnetic field, which encodes the data into the magnetic media. Data is read from the media by similarly positioning the magnetic read transducer and then sensing the magnetic field of the magnetic media. Read and write operations may be independently synchronized with the movement of the media to ensure that the data can be read from and written to the desired location on the media.
An important and continuing goal in the data storage industry is that of increasing the density of data stored on a medium. For tape storage systems, that goal has led to increasing the track and linear bit density on recording tape, and decreasing the thickness of the magnetic tape medium. However, the development of small footprint, higher performance tape drive systems has created various problems in the design of a tape head assembly, as well as tapes, for use in such systems.
Media abrasivity is directly related to head wear, recession, and spacing loss. The current method employed by media vendors to gauge abrasivity involves methods which have been shown to not be representative of actual head wear, and a poor gauge of tape abrasivity.